Integrated circuit chips, because of their irregular shape, are difficult to handle and store. A small handful of chips represents a considerable amount of money. It is unwise to store a multiplicity of the chips in a single enclosure, because the terminal ends or electrical contacts thereof become intermeshed and locked together. Furthermore, the chips, when stored in this random manner, are likely to be damaged from shock and are difficult to identify and retrieve. In order to overcome some of these difficulties, Cowen et al, U.S. Pat. No. 2,518,450, proposes to mount the prongs of fragile articles within an apertured support member and enclose the combination within a box.
Anson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,746,157; Bohannon, U.S. Pat. No. 3,700,100; Hutson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,864; Lechner et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,142; Jackson, U.S. Pat. No. 3,191,791 and Emery, U.S. Pat. No. 2,778,490, each propose to store fragile components in individual enclosures isolated from one another.
Berge et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,164,794, encapsulates various different circuit components, each electrically connected to one another, and with the different components being molded within a sheet of material 12 which essentially provides a book 15 which can be placed within a zipped enclosure 19.
Gerner, U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,595, proposes a plurality of panels of resilient, synthetic, sheet plastic material connected together so that the panels may be folded respective to one another and conveniently stored.
Wallestad, U.S. Pat. No. 3,494,459, proposes a plurality of panels 10 which are chip trays nested together to provide a convenient storage means for fragile components.
It is evident from the foregoing prior art examples that various different expedients have been employed to protect fragile circuit components, and at the same time maintain the components separated from one another in some sort of systematic manner. An improvement over the prior art which provides an integrated circuit storage catalog is the subject of the present invention.